The present invention pertains to optical lens grinder devices and more particularly to a lens grinder device which sequentially and in a timed relation automatically produces a finished lens, shaped and sized in conformity with a lens template, in less than one minute, approximately 48 seconds for example.
Optical lens grinders currently in commercial use are very expensive, ranging upwardly close to $10,000 at the present time. The device of the present invention accomplishes its purpose at least as well as and generally better than the presently used devices because of its extreme simplicity in structure as compared with the great complexity of other existing lens grinders. According to present estimates, the device of the present invention will sell for substantially less than one-half the cost of the lowest priced machine of this type currently in use up to almost one-fourth the price of the most costly machine.
Therefore, one of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide an optical lens grinder device which provides a lens carriage with a motor driven chuck to engage and firmly hold a lens blank and whereby the operation of a single cycle start switch will activate the device to shape, size and bevel an optical lens blank in conformity with a template carried on an extended end of the chuck shaft.
A further principal object of the invention is to provide an optical lens grinder which employs a very unique and single cam assembly comprised of an appropriately configurated cam plate and a rotating arm with an angularly disposed cam follower on each end to, first, move the lens carriage to position the lens blank over a first, edge grinding wheel to shape and size the lens, to, second, raise the carriage to move the sized and shaped lens from engagement with the first grinder, to, third, shift the lens over a second, beveling grinder wheel, to, fourth, lower the carriage to move the lens edge into engagement with the beveling grinder, and, fifth, to raise the carriage with the lens upwardly to a start position for the next cycle for removal of the finished lens, the complete uninterrupted cycle being accomplished in approximately 48 seconds.
Another important object of the instant invention is to provide an adjustable cone and follower means to compensate for the constant lateral deviation of the peripheral edge of the lens in grinding the bevel, the deviation being due to the everchanging depth of the cut toward or away from the central or optical axis of the lens blank and the semi-spherical configuration of the lens blank.